Pathos
Pathos is used as a rhetoric in order to stir up the readers' emotions and bring up a negative reaction towards the fast food companies and the negative effects it has on our culture, health and well-being. Speaking about some of the effects fast food had on child's health, Shlosser says "His illness began with abdominal cramps… It progressed to diarrhea…doctors drilled holes in his skull to relieve pressure, inserting tubes in his chest to help him breathe as the Shiga toxins destroyed his internal organs” Shiga toxins cause dysentery a disease that causes severe diarrhea, abdominal pains and fever. Dysentery can be fatal as it proved to be for this little boy with his mother quoted saying that " the sheer brutality of his death was horrifying." Shlosser here stirs up emotion by not providing his own opinion on the little boy's death but rather the mother's opinion. In order to bring up feelings of disgust towards some jobs in the meatpacking industry which is vital towards the survival of fast food companies, Shlosser says the workers "get under tables and conveyer belts, climbing right into the bloody muck, cleaning out grease, fat, manure, leftover scraps of meat... temperatures soon exceed 100 degrees. it's hot and it's foggy and you can't see anything." This quote shows the horrendous working conditions people face in the meatpacking industry.